Yes, this winter weather seems to be hanging on and mother nature’s throwing all of us a curve ball. The robins seem to be balls of puff as they hunker down to weather the rain and you can actually hear a tree fall down in the forest. It is days like this that a good read is most welcome. Well, friends, it’s your lucky day. Prepared to be warped into a world of Pharaoh’s and sun-dwellers in Michael Stewart’s book 24 Bones.

Summary

Every five hundred years the phoenix dies.

Samiya, born-into-shadow, is soon to battle her born-into-light brother. Abandoned by their parents, neither wishes to play the preordained role of beast and hero. When their loved ones are taken hostage, they are forced to follow the path laid out in myth, culminating in a battle first fought six thousand years ago in ancient Cairo. A mythic clash where one defeats the other and both become gods.

To break free from their fates, Samiya and her brother must unravel a mystery twisted by cults, greed, and magic. But myth is a powerful force and failure to live up to it may not only destroy their lives but the lives of the ones they love most.

When the phoenix dies, the only certainty is flames.

Review

Every once in a while, I find myself reading a book without really understanding the big picture at first. This is one of those books. I had the privilege to review one other book my Michael Stewart before reading 24 Bones., so I thought I knew what I was in for. His book 24 Bones was not what I was expecting at all. Don’t get me wrong, I thought this was a very powerful read that touched on subjects that were unexpected as the book itself. War, family ties, mythology, balance just to name a few. Prepares yourselves for another epic ride as we tumble into the world of Pharaoh’s, the Void, and a battle for the record books.

The first thing that surprised me about 24 Bones was the pure knowledge that the author knew about Ancient Egypt and some of the mythology and facts along with that. With this, he took us into the present (and possibly the future) but never once deterred from the ancient stories as the character carried the stories of the past with her. It was quite admirable how some of the paragraphs read more like a history lesson that was intertwined with the main characters. What started to really draw me in was the concept behind the words that can be broken down to good versus evil. This is where the knowledge of Ancient Egypt came into play. The story goes that when Osiris died, his spine was broken into individual bones and separated up within separate groups. Now the battle between good and evil is brewing and Osiris spine needs to be, for lack of a better word, reassembled.

When one of the main characters, Samiya, takes her own mother in custody because she knew what a piece of the spine was, she was on the evil side, but then I started to question her motives, and if she was just acting evil for the sake of the good. But again, it was her mother who dedicated her to this side for the sake of ‘balance’. This book distorted the lines of this so called good and evil. I found myself not knowing which side to root for, who were the good guys, and I had no idea how it was going to end. I have to applause Michael Stewart once again for a suspenseful book and once again, a very gripping conclusion.

Yes, friends, this is the perfect book to make your rainy day more electrifying. Step in from out of the rain and discover a world unlike any other.

About the Author

After crewing ships in the Antarctic and the Baltic Sea and some fun in venture capital, Michael anchored himself (happily) to a marriage and a boatload of kids. Now he injects his adventurous spirit into his writing with brief respites for research into the jungles of Sumatra and Guatemala, the ruins of Egypt and Tik’al, paddling the Zambezi and diving whatever cave or ocean reef will have him. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers and SF Canada, and the author of the Assured Destruction series, 24 Bones, The Sand Dragon, Hurakan, Ruination and several award winning graphic novels for young adults.